The
Sunday Times of London has reported that English soccer players are storing
stem cells from the umbilical cord blood of their newborn babies because the
cells could potentially be used to treat the players' cartilage and ligament
injuries. "We decided to store our new baby's stem cells for possible future
therapeutic reasons, both for our children and possibly for myself," an unnamed
Premier League player told the Sunday Times. "As a footballer, if you're prone
to injury it can mean the end of your career, so having your stem cells - a
repair kit if you like - on hand makes sense."